212 



ELEPHAS COLUMBI. 



III. ON THE AMEBICAN FOSSIL ELEPHANT OP 

 THE BEGIONS BORDERING THE GULP OP 

 MEXICO (E. COLUMBI, Pale.) ; WITH GENERAL 

 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIVING AND EX- 

 TINCT SPECIES. 1 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS DENTITION OF E. COLUMBI — RANGE OF HABITAT 



AND GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF E. COLUMBI — ASSOCIATED FOSSIL MAM- 

 MALIA — STNONYMY OF AMERICAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS — RANGE IN TIME 



OF THE MAMMOTH — ITS EARLIEST HEAD-QUARTERS PERSISTENCE OF 



ITS DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS UNITY OR PLURALITY OF SPECIES OF 



EXISTING INDIAN ELEPHANT ASSERTED OCCURRENCE OF MASTODON 



IN AUSTRALIA — FOOD OF LIVING AND EXTINCT ELEPHANTS : — A. OF 



THE INDIAN ELEPHANT B. OF THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT C. OF THE 



MAMMOTH. 



§ 1. Introductory Remarks. 



My first knowledge of this form dates from the year 1846, 

 when Sir Charles (then Mr.) Lyell submitted to me, for exa- 

 mination, some fossil mammalian remains, which he had 

 brought with him on his return from his second visit to 

 America. 2 They formed part of a collection which had been 

 exhumed in 1838-39, in digging the Brunswick Canal, near 

 Darien in Georgia. A selected series of these remains was 

 presented by Mr. Hamilton Couper, the discoverer, to the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, where they 

 were identified by Dr. Harlan, some of whose determinations 

 were corrected by Professor Owen, and those of the latter 

 more recently by Dr. Leidy. The locality and the details of 

 the case have been described, first by Mr. Hamilton Couper, 3 

 and afterwards from personal observation by Sir Charles 

 Lyell. The specimens brought by the latter included some 

 fragments of the molars of a fossil Elephant, which, after 

 careful examination, I satisfied myself belonged to a species 

 wholly distinct from the prevailing fossil form of North Ame- 

 rica, namely, E. primigenius ; my attention having been at 

 the time closely directed to the study of the Proboscidea, 



1 This Memoir appeared in the ' Na- 

 tural History Eeriew' for January 1863, 

 from which it is here reprinted, with 

 corrections made by the author, and ex- 

 tracts from his Note-books. — [Ed.] 



2 ' Second Visit to N. America,' 3rd 

 edit. 1855, vol. i. p. 347. 



3 'Proceedings Geol. Society,' 1843, 

 vol. iv. p. 33. 





